Does Faith Define Your Trust in God?

You hear so much about faith. Have you ever felt defined by your faith? As if faith were some lack of trust in God? Of course you do! Faith is the foundation of the Christian journey. Faith is, well, faith! The Bible is littered with inspiring stories about faith. Some good, some as a warning. I’m sure in your circles, you hear about incredible faith, not enough faith, lack of faith, or miraculous faith. Add on any adjective, you have an idea of what faith should look like in your life. Almost every Christian I have ever encountered wishes they had more faith.

What it boils down to is trust. Faith = trust. Let me add the adjectives again: awesome trust, inadequate trust, lack of trust, and miraculous trust. If you say things like “I don’t have enough faith to go into the mission field,” you are implying, “I don’t have enough trust to go into the mission field.” You can insert anything you want into “I don’t have enough faith to ________.” You are telling God you don’t trust him to equip you with what you need to do the job. You don’t have faith in what 1 Thessalonians 5:24 says: “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”

There are several types of faith, including mustard-seed faith, little faith, healing faith, tested faith, and growing faith. Let’s do a deep dive into these types of faith.

Mustard-Seed Faith

You’ve got trouble. You’re standing at the base of the mountain. You see no possible way up, around, or over. You are doubting that God has a way to help you out of your situation. You have little faith. It’s barely there. “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” (Matthew 17:20, NLT)

Do you know how tiny a mustard seed is? It is about 1-2 millimeters. Millimeters! In the 1970’s there was a company that created a necklace with one mustard seed embedded within a clear ball that enhanced its size just so you could see it. That’s how small this seed is.

Mustard-see faith isn’t ginormous faith. It’s minuscule faith. But you have it. From that seed, a plant will burst forth from the ground. With it, you can move that mountain you’re facing.

Ye of Little Faith

Remember, at the beginning of this blog, I told you that faith equaled trust? Let me just say that lack of faith equals lack of trust. Lack of trust leads to big pride. I won’t go into all the aspects and faces of pride here (LINK pride), but sometimes it’s my job to serve up some vegetables instead of dessert by telling you the bold truth.

When you have little faith or little trust, you rely on yourself to handle your problems. Welcome pride. You think you can do a better job than God because, so far, He hasn’t lived up to your expectations. Pride causes you to think it can solve your problems. Pride presumes no one else is smarter. Pride takes control of every situation. Pride is impatient with how slowly God is responding to the situation. Pride steals your trust; therefore, it steals your faith in God.

You sit back and wonder, “Why don’t I have more faith? I’m a good Christian, but I just can’t trust God with my finances.” Pride says, “It’s my money and I’ll spend it how I want.”

To break away from your little faith, you first must break away from pride’s control. Check out my blog about pride to learn how.

Healing Faith

~ Healing Faith comes from confession

Just like the subtitle says, healing faith comes from confession. James 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

When you have a confidant, accountability partner, or someone you deeply trust, you can confess your sins to them without fear of judgment. Together, you can then pray and release those sins to God through that faithful prayer. Unquestionable confession leads to the healing of your heart, which opens the door for your faith to grow. Then, you can use that faith to believe and receive other types of healing, including physical and emotional.

Tested Faith

Recently repressed memories from my past opened a whole new avenue of doubt. But as I processed the memories with my pastor and professional counselors, I came to believe the memories. God was with me every step and revealed Himself in many ways.

My faith was seriously tested. However, passing the test built an impenetrable bond of trust between me and my Father in heaven. Going through that test was the most difficult time in my life, thus far. But, I not only gained trust that will never die, I also learned a valuable lesson.

I Peter 1:6-7 affirmed that the testing of my faith wasn’t just some game God was playing. Peter said that I “must endure trials for a little while,” but the trials show that my faith is genuine. The words of verse seven comforted and encouraged me, where it says that when my “faith remains strong through these trials much praise, glory, and honor [will be given to] Jesus [when he] is revealed to the whole world.” Peter goes on to say, “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (italics mine).

When you experience a trial, your faith is automatically tested. When you pass the test, you add jewels to the crown that awaits you in heaven. The end result of all you have endured is the salvation of your soul! It’s time to celebrate the trial!

Growing Faith

~ Step-By-Step

Today I was thinking about my cat, Piper. She’s been a member of our family now for about 10 years. She came to us from a foster home in Korea. They said she was about three years old when we brought her home. We didn’t have any history on her, only that she had been a good cat for her multiple foster families.

At first, I wasn’t too sure she was going to be the kind of cat I truly wanted. I mean, she’s friendly enough and healthy. But I like cats that like to lie on my lap and enjoy snuggling. Over time, she started to warm up a little and allowed me to pet her more, but still, no lap cat, no snuggling.

Joe and I started treating Piper like family right away by spoiling her! We got her the best food, the yummiest treats, and lots of fun toys, too. Right away her favorite toy, believe it or not, ended up being a tootsie roll sucker – which, if you didn’t know, was not an item ever intended to be a cat toy.

One day, I was curious about her past. I decided to go back to the shelter’s Facebook page and search their feed for pictures of her. I wondered how long she had spent in the shelter. I was shocked to see a picture of her as a kitten. I was so heartbroken for Miss Piper kitty. She had been in several foster homes and the shelter before we brought her home for keeps. No wonder she wasn’t a lap cat. No wonder she didn’t know how to play. No wonder she didn’t want to connect to us. She didn’t know if she would stay with us. She had no faith that she would become a permanent resident in our family. She lacked trust.

Now I can honestly say her faith has grown over the years. She now trusts that she will not return to the shelter, especially since we brought her to America with us when we left the mission field of Korea. Her entire attitude has changed. And she’s even become a lap cat! She still has a hard time with the playing thing, though.

Why am I saying all this? It’s because it takes time for trust to build in any relationship. Sometimes your trust in God takes incremental steps. You first began trusting in Jesus as the Son of God. Then, over time and experience, you trust him with small things. Then, when He proves faithful (refer to I Thessalonians 5:24 again), you can trust Him with big things. One day, you’ll be sitting in His presence, fully trusting that He is good, wearing your crown. But, like in Piper’s case, it can take time to grow your faith.

Trust God with your little things today. He’ll prove faithful. Then you’ll have experience to trust him when the weightier things come.

~ Supplement Your Faith

Second Peter has much to say about supplementing your faith, especially in the first chapter. To supplement your faith means to support it, to add to it, to help it grow. He offers reasons why this is important and how to accomplish it. If you’re wondering if you can increase your faith or how to succeed in growing it, please check out my blog titled “Discover How These 7 Steps Supplement Your Faith.” (LINK). You may be surprised that growing your faith by supplementing it might not look the way you expect, but I think you’ll be relieved at the process.

Conclusion

In today’s world, the word faith doesn’t seem to hold as much meaning as it did during Bible times. It receives too many false definitions. The actual meaning of faith is “reliance, loyalty, or complete trust in God.” Depending on the foundation of your family of origin, trust gets stifled at a young age. Reliance and loyalty might not find their way into your vocabulary when referencing your parents. However, God is not like an earthly father. His love is never-ending.

Looking back at the types of faith, what category of faith might define your current trust status? Have you found it difficult to believe in good things – in God things? Wherever your faith in God lands today, there is hope. Don’t give up yet! Your victory is right around the corner.